Lithuania Minor
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Lithuania Minor (or Prussian Lithuania) is one of five ethnographic regions of Lithuania.
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Geography
Consists of territories of current Kaliningrad Oblast (excluding the city of Kaliningrad and it's surroundings), a few territories in northern Poland and territories in municipalities of Klaipėda district, Šilutė district, Klaipėda city, as well as Pagėgiai municipality and Neringa municipality, all those territories in Lithuania. Now it seems to be based in quite different places, however back when Lithuania minor was defined, all these territories were part of Germany and thus separated from the remaining Lithuania, that's where the name comes from. Major cities in region traditionally are Klaipėda and Tilžė, other towns include Ragainė, Šilutė, Stalupėnai, Įsrūtis, Krantas, Piliava, Rasytė, Pagėgiai.
Demographics
Traditions
History
The territory known as Lithuania Minor had been distinguished in administrative way since the 16th century, called mostly Lithuanian counties. The name Mažoji Lietuva (Lithuania Minor and Klein Litauen) became popular later, mostly among historians and ethnographers. Back then Lithuania Minor was part of Germany, and over the time the territories and numbers of Lithuanians, called Lietuvninks (some says it's name of people from Lithuania Minor, however others argues that it's rather one of two historical ways to call Lithuanians, and that in other territorie sof Lithuania word "lietuvis" became popular, while in Lithuania minor - "lietuvninkas") were decreasing due to germanisation. However this region always was important centre for Lithuanian culture, which was persecuted in other part of Lithuania, which since 18th century was occupied by Russia and previously polonized, during the ban of Lithuanian language in Russia Lithuanian books were printed here. After Lithuania got independence, a part of Lithuania Minor was attached to Lithuania in 1923 and Lithuania unsuccessfully negotiated for more territories. After WW2, Lithuania Minor was destroyed by Russians, who expelled Lithuanians from East Prussia along with Germans, while small portion of Lithuania Minor attached to Lithuania in 1923 had a major population change cause of retreating, exiled to Siberia or massacred Lietuvninks, and now is mostly populated by descendants of Lithuanians from other regions. During Soviet occupation, the existence of Lithuania Minor was being denied altogether, by saying that Lithuania had only 4 ethnographic regions; this is the believe many people educated in these times still holds, and Museum of Lithuanian people's lifestyle in Rumšiškės which was opened in Soviet times also only 4 regions are represented. All this was done because Russians were shown as a friendly nation, which could have been questioned if it would have been understood that Russians taken a great part of Lithuania, what is now Kaliningrad Oblast, to themselves.
Politics
Symbolics
- Lithuania Minor has a flag, which is a horizontal tricolor of green, white and red, used since 1660 (see Flag of Lithuania Minor). Lithuania Minor is the only ethnographic region of Lithuania which has flag separate from coat of arms, rather than having it based on coat of arms.
- Coat of arms of Lithuania Minor is divided into two parts, left and right. Right part has an image of horse on diagonally striped surface. Left side is further dubdivided in two parts, upper and lower. Lower part is all white, upper part is vertically striped.
- Anthem of Lithuania Minor is used since 19th century, written by Jurgen Zauervein, and called "Lietuvninkais mes esam gimę" (Meaning "Lietuvninks we are born"). It is the only ethnographic region of Lithuania with its anthem. This anthem when Lithuania (not Lithuania Minor) got independence in early 20th century was suggested as a possible anthem for whole Lithuania, while word "Lietuvnink" would be changed to "Lithuanian" everywhere; however it had some text which was actual only to Lithuania Minor, and eventually Tautiška giesmė by Vincas Kudirka was adopted instead.